Airship



Oct. 6, 1925.l

L. DURR `AIRSHIP Filed Aug. 1s, '1925 instants-Shui fig. 1

Fig-3 Jhvenorf;

fw wat.

oct'. 6, 1925. L. BURR 1556210 AIRSHIP Fled Aug. 16, '1923 2 lSheQt-Sheot. 2

Fig. 4 Fig- 5 Jnvenfor:

Patented oct. e, 1925.

UNITED STATES y 1,556,210 PATENT oF'FIcE.

LUDWIG om, or FRIEDBICIISIIAEEN, GERMANY, AssIGNon'. To THE FIRM LUM- scnIFrBAU zEPrELIN, GEsmLscIIAFT m'r/Bmcnnnx'rnn HAIIUNG, or FRIED- RICHSEAFEN, BODENSEE, GERMANY.

Amann.-

Ippnmion mea August 1s, 192s. serial notam.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, LUDWIG Dxa, citizenA of the German Empire, .residing .at Friedrichshafen, on the lake of Constanz, Ger- 5 many, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Airships, of which the following is a specification.

Rigid airships are constructed of cross members and longitudinal girders, braced by wires. It has become usual to stifen this frame workin its longitudinal direction by adding a kind of keel. For this purpose the lower part of the gas envelopingl hull is developed to a special truss vframe of triangular or other form of cross section. Heretofore this keel has been arranged underneath the gas enveloping frame so that two longitudinal girders of this frame were the upper part and a third girder-added for this special pur ose-Was the lower part of the keel truss rame. Posts were arran ed between these three girders, lyingv in t e vertical plane, and. all of them were braced by wires. This triangular keel ran from stem to stern andl was usedas a passage. In this passage a part of the useful load of the airship was disposed, for example gasoline tanks, ballast tanks, bombs and so on. The keel served to distribute these weights to the cross members or rings of the bi frame work. So the hight of such an airs ip was equal to the` diameter of the ship plus the hight of the gangwayor keel'.

Furthermore it has become known to turn 85 this keel and gangway upside down and transfer it at the same time inside the circumscribed circle of the cross section of the gas enveloping frame. The reason was tov diminish the total hight of the ship.

40 My invention now is to arrange this keelA part y inside partly outside the circumscribed circle of the cross section of the gasl enveloping frame. -The advantage is that by this way, it will be possible to have the benefit of the steadying and stabilizing effect of the outer keel in a desirable degree and on' the otherl hand to let the keel disappear inside the envelop-ing frame to such extent as seems suitable with regard to the ships hight.

As described before, it has been usual to lmount the` keel on one beam or one side of the'polygon forming the cross member or ring. According to my invention it will be possible to mount it for example on two adjoining beams, whereby it will become much stronger and at the same time allow more room for the purpose as gangway.

The accompanying drawings will explain my invention. Fig. l is a longitudinal view of an airship without outer cover. Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same on a larger scale.

Fig. 3 to 6 are constructional modificationsl of the keel according to the present invention. Fig. 7 is a plan of F ig. 5.

In Fig. 1 to Fig. 6 is shown how the keel gangway is disposed partly outside partly within the circumscribed circle of the cross section polygon. w is the upper line, y the lower line of the keel gangway A, while z is the lower line of the shape of the main frame work. In Fig. 2, 5 and 6 the triangle a b .e comprises two sectors of the cross section polygon, a b being the base of the keel gangway. y K

In Fig. 7 the rings are marked e, the normal longitudinal girders i, the longitudinal irders especially for the keel gangway k; gare ties and g races.

It should be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the e'xact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will in the art.

' What I claim is- 1. A rigid airship, comprising a tubular rigid hull lof substantially polygonal cross section, a reinforcing rigid keel of substantially polygonal cross section, said keel replaclng a portion of the wall structure of said hull, and being situated partly inside and partly outside of said hull.

ing keel structure also extending longitudinally of said airship, the cross section of said keel projecting inwardly into the spa/ce confined by said circumferential frame and also outwardly from a circle circumscribed around sald clrcumferentlal frame, said keel constituting a longitudinal `passage inside of said airship. p

3. A rigld airship, comprlsing a hull, thel cross sectlon of said hull v aving a substantially polygonal shape withfa substantially occur'to a person skilled convex circumference, a, reinforcing structure at the circumference of said hull and formed integral therewith, said reinforcin structure extending longitudinally of sai 5 airship and constituting a, keel and having a. longitudinal passage, the cross section of said reinforcing structure projecting inwardly into the space confined by said hull and outwardly from the circle circumscrib in the polygonal cross section of said hull. 10

igned at Friedrichshafen (Bodensee) this 18th day of June, 1923.

LUDWIG DRR. 

